District 200 addressing class sizes

Reduced staffing levels and changing enrollment created class size issues this year in some of Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200's elementary schools.

Now district officials say the situation could prompt them to consider adjusting boundaries, adding mobile classrooms or capping enrollment at certain grade levels in some schools.

"To have appropriate educational programs going on at these buildings, we have to take a look and consider some things," Superintendent Brian Harris said, adding that the goal would be to balance programs and enrollment.

While overall enrollment fell for the nearly 13,500-student district, the number of students at its elementary schools went up. Enrollment at the 13 elementary schools range from 339 students at Hawthorne School to 552 at Pleasant Hill.

After making millions of dollars in budget cuts, officials were aware there could be instances where the district's target for class sizes would be exceeded. District 200's target class size for kindergarten and first grade is 26 students. It's 28 students for second and third grades and 30 for fourth and fifth grades.

During a presentation this week for the school board, officials said the student-to-teacher ratio in first- through fifth-grade classrooms ranges from 22-to-1 to 26-to-1. That ratio for kindergarten classrooms districtwide ranges from 18-to-1 to 26-to-1.

"I think it's important to point out here that we were able to be respectful of the soft caps that we identified during our discussions about class sizes last year," said Margo Sorrick, assistant superintendent for educational services. "We were able to respect those and hold to those."

Still, Harris said he is concerned about what is happening in some classes, including kindergarten and third-grade classrooms at Hawthorne.

During Wednesday's school board meeting, Mary Vaccaro and other Hawthorne parents said they worry there aren't enough resources to handle the school's large English Language Learner population.

"My child has been in kindergarten for four weeks," Vaccaro said. "I don't think her experience in looking at the numbers on that board - and looking past the numbers on that board - is equitable in comparison to what we're seeing at other schools."

Harris said lean staffing levels create "hot spots" when enrollment changes.

"In the past, we haven't staffed this tight," he said. "So therefore, we've always had a little play room at most buildings and most grade levels. We are not there this year."

Looking ahead, Harris said, the problems could be addressed by revising school boundaries or adding more mobile classrooms.

The district also could consider a program that caps enrollment at certain grade levels in certain buildings. As part of that idea, new students would be sent to another nearby school once the classroom cap is reached.

Any proposal that is formally considered would be reviewed by the school board.

In the meantime, Harris said he's going to work closely with the principals at all the elementary schools "to make sure that we continue to look at our programming, our enrollment and our class sizes to make sure that they are equitable."